Harshest sentence ever in January 6 case for man who threatened lawmakers and tech executives


Troy Anthony Smocks, who was in Washington on the day of the bombing but did not make it to Capitol Hill, pleaded guilty in September to transmitting interstate threats and will get credit for the nine months he has spent in prison since his arrest in January.
“Mr. Smocks, from the security of his hotel room, had the nerve to call people who tried to defend the Capitol that day ‘cowards’,” District Judge Tanya Chutkan said. “He had the audacity to call the rioters ‘patriots’. ”

According to his plea deal, Smocks, under the pseudonym “ColonelTPerez,” posted on the right-wing social media platform Speak and encouraged people to follow the call from former President Donald Trump, his son Eric Trump and Republican Representative Mo Brooks of Alabama, and take up arms as “American Patriots” after securing the Capitol building on the evening of January 6. Former President Eric Trump and Brooks all spoke at the “Stop the Steal” rally that served as a prelude to the riot.

“Prepare our weapons, then go get them,” Smocks reportedly posted on January 7. green light. [All] those who resist us are enemies of Our Constitution and should be treated as such. Today the cowards ran like We took the Capital. They got it back now, only because we left. It was not the building we wanted. . . it was them! ”

Smocks has a long criminal record and has posed as a government or military official on numerous occasions, which Chutkan says weighed heavily in his decision.

In one case, prosecutors said Smocks donned a full military uniform “with medals he didn’t win” for a wedding, despite not serving in the military. At other times, he wore a US Drug Enforcement Administration shirt and handcuffs to the scene of a search, told a woman law enforcement was looking for her as he posed as a Secret Service agent, and told police he was with the FBI, federal prosecutors said in court documents.

In an impassioned speech at his sentencing hearing on Thursday, Smocks, who is black, said he believed he was being treated harsher than the White Capitol riots defendants, citing a case in which a woman from Pennsylvania who posted she was looking for Nancy Pelosi to “shoot him in the shit brain” was cleared to plead a low level misdemeanor.

“Your honor, this is racism. This is why there are many more black and brown men in prison than white people for the same crime,” Smocks said. “I’m not Dr King, close by, but we share the same skin color and the same idea of ​​justice.”

But Chutkan, who is also black, vehemently dismissed Smocks’ allegations of racism.

“Mr. Smocks is now looking to compare himself and wrap himself in the cloak of civil rights. I, for one, find that offensive,” Chutkan said.

“People have died fighting for civil rights,” she added. “People have been beaten, they have been tortured mentally and physically. For you to present yourself as a soldier in this fight is daring.”

So far, 19 rioters on Capitol Hill have been convicted, most of them with federal offenses. Eleven were sentenced to prison terms.

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